She loves talking about herself in the third person.

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I want a Donnie Hendrix

Of course if you don’t watch Orphan Black you won’t know about Donnie Hendrix will you?

~SPOILER ALERT~

Donnie is the husband of one of the clones played by Tatiana Maslany. Before we get to Donnie let me bow down and give all sorts of kudos to Ms. Maslany. This young actress has portrayed (at my last count anyway) eight different personalities – some at the same time! Okay, not literally at the same time. But through the magic of film making she acts in scenes with herself and you actually believe there are two (and sometimes three) of her. Most of us probably understand how that’s done – using body doubles they shoot a scene over one character’s shoulder then re-shoot the same scene from the opposite point of view and blend the two in editing. However, they actually have her interacting with herself in ways that feel more genuine. In Orphan Black: The Cloneversation they talk about how it works and chat with some of the stars. If you’re at all interested in what this BBC series is all about check out the Cloneversation and prepare to be hooked.

So back to my original point – I want a Donnie Hendrix.

This is a Donnie Hendrix

Played by Kristian Bruun, Donnie is an affable, well-meaning man with a big heart. He ADORES his wife and would do anything for her, as he proves in season 2. But my favorite quality of Donnie’s is his warmth and easy-going nature. I don’t always appreciate how the writers portray him – in some episodes he comes across as a charming doofus for instance – but his love for his wife and children remains steadfast. His pleasant demeanor has faltered on occasion, but only briefly and with good reason. This is the kind of man you want by your side when the shit hits the fan.

To be clear, I don’t want to trade JD for Donnie, but I can’t help wishing sometimes that JD had more of Donnie’s qualities. JD can be a bit paranoid…hell, who am I kidding? He’s completely paranoid. Further, little things irk him and once he’s irked then it escalates quickly to frustration and finally anger, and while it isn’t directed at me it can still make me cringe. What can I say? I’m a product of my raising and I’ve taken avoiding confrontation to a new level.

What brought this on is our upcoming camping trip. Wait – I should back up a bit. The camping trip is only happening because I requested leave for this coming Friday, Monday and Tuesday way back last year to go to Comicon. I came into the full glory of my geekhood (geekdom?) late in life and my favorite daughter and I share many of the same geeky pleasures. Last year we went to all three days of Comicon and stayed downtown in a hotel together. It was a great girls’ weekend and between discovering some comics I loved and the people-watching we had an awesome time. So of course I immediately submitted a request for time off so we could go again this year.

So why am I camping this weekend instead of joining the geek tribe? JD is why. I won’t go into the gory details but he wasn’t exactly thrilled about last year’s weekend and I got to hear it afterward. Rather than face the debate that would ensue if I brought up wanting to go again this year I just opted out. But I didn’t give back the vacation days either. When we re-upped with our camping membership and discovered a beautiful campground conveniently near JD’s newly found biological father, it seemed like a good idea to use the vacation time I already had scheduled.

Fast forward to the present: I know from past experience how the whole packing up the trailer and getting everything ready is going to go. By the time we actually reach the damn campground I’ll be so done. I love camping, but sometimes it’s more work than relaxation. Followed by MORE work when we get home. And then? I get to go back to WORK. <Sarcasm>Yippee</Sarcasm>.

On a happier note, season 3 of Orphan Black begins on April 18! Woo hoo!

There have been some interesting studies showing that “relaxing” vacations are actually often very stressful, and that the benefits we get from even good vacations don’t last long once back in the “real world.”

The trick, I guess, is to find a way to vacation that is as easy as possible and reflects what you really want to spend your time off doing. I’ve done my share of rough deep-woods camping… these days my idea of a vacation involves people regularly bringing me drinks and preparing tasty food for me. And a lot of unproductive lounging around!